News from an independent audit over how seized money is handled by the Monroe Police Dept. should be of concern to the public, as it plays to the public trust. The audit may cast a shadow over the police department because it apparently didn’t followed established procedures in how the money is to transferred to bank accounts held by the city. The audit revealed that MPD only deposited seized money in a city bank account over a fiscal year one time since May 2020. This is now December 2021, in what should be another fiscal year. Monroe Police Chief “Vic” Zordan said that MPD policy is that money over $100.00 is put in evidence and then it is supposed to be transferred into a city bank account AFTER one week. The result of the audit’s findings, said that MPD should have carried out their procedure more frequently than it did. Money that is seized is usually held over to be used in criminal cases, but practices by MPD open up the possibility of that money being lost or stolen, according to the audit report. But the audit also uncovered something else that should be troubling to the public, when it comes to handling money that potentially could be used to prosecute an individual or if by chance, that individual’s money may be returned to him/her. The audit found that there were no “periodic” documented checks on the inventory, meaning that it would be difficult to know if all of the seized money is at MPD, if it hadn’t been deposited, per department policy. Chief Zordan couldn’t say if all money would be accounted for, but what happened at MPD was “a mistake”, and MPD “has worked” to correct those mistakes. Zordan did not say that MPD violated any policy, but changes have been implemented. These changes have been implemented after the audit’s findings, which might lead many in the public to believe that MPD may have ignored established procedure, that may not have been uncovered if not for a thorough audit from an independent agency. Zordan said that cameras has been installed, also sign-in, check in lists and now, money over $100.00 is transferred to city account after one week. Zordan said that MPD will conduct “independent audits” as suggested by the firm, to make sure no mistake happens in the future. Some in the community may ask how can Chief Zordan call something a mistake when the established policy was allegedly looked over for over a year without any apparent oversight. Perhaps, the public is owed a better explanation into how something that should be routine when it comes to handling possible evidence, is held in the evidence room where anything could happen to that evidence. Zordan says that the lone person assigned to the evidence room, now has help. Accountability is all that the public is asking for.